Aquino already looking into Cudia appeal – Palace

President Aquino: Personally reviewing Cudia case. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—President Aquino has begun “personally” reviewing the appeal of Philippine Military Academy Cadet Aldrin Jeff Cudia, who was expelled from the PMA for allegedly breaking the school’s “honor code.”

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma on Thursday said the President himself was going over Cudia’s case, which was elevated to Aquino’s office after the Armed Forces review board upheld the findings of the PMA’s honor committee.

“Truth and fairness are the primary guideposts in deciding this appeal. The Office of the President is currently studying the appeal,” Coloma told a press briefing.

He said time would be a factor in the President’s decision, considering that Cudia’s “Siklab Diwa” batch will hold its graduation rites on Sunday.

“It is reasonable to expect that that would be one of the factors that would be looked into, the timeliness of the decision,” he said.

Cudia, who would have been the salutatorian of his class, was dismissed after allegedly lying about the reason why he had come late to class.

Coloma stressed the importance of the PMA’s honor code, describing it as “an essential building block on the character formation of future leaders and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”

“Its basic objective is to prepare and fortify the mindset and the value set of the prospective Armed Forces officer as these will eventually be put to a severe test in the battlefield and arenas of conflict, where the officer will be deployed upon commissioning,” he said.

Meanwhile, the PMA’s Cadet Review and Appeals Board (CRAB) has asked a Navy officer to explain the affidavit he submitted in support of Cudia after another cadet he quoted in the document denied making any statement.

In his affidavit, Commander Junjie Tabuada, head of the PMA Department of Naval Warfare, claimed that Cadet First Class Lagura, a member of the honor committee that judged Cudia guilty of lying, had told him (Tabuada) that he was pressured to change his vote from not guilty to guilty. The affidavit did not supply Lagura’s first name.

However, according to Col. Rozzano Briguez, the commandant of cadets, Lagura has executed his own affidavit and told the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) at a hearing in Baguio City on Wednesday that he never made such a statement to Tabuada.

“Cadet Lagura categorically denied that he made the statement. He challenged (Tabuada’s) affidavit before the CRAB. He also said this at the CHR hearing,” Briguez said in a phone interview.

Briguez said that Tabuada is under investigation by the CRAB “to shed light on his affidavit.”

“He is a material witness in the case … He has to prove his allegation because it is a serious allegation,” Briguez said.

Briguez said the CRAB is set to decide Friday on Cudia’s appeal for a reinvestigation or a retrial of his case.

Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Persida Rueda-Acosta told reporters that Tabuada’s affidavit was Cudia’s “new evidence” that would prove that the honor committee violated its own rules when it changed its 8 to 1 vote supposedly acquitting him to a 9 to 0 vote that ultimately convicted him.

Under the honor committee rules, there has to be a unanimous decision to hand down a guilty verdict. If a cadet is convicted, he or she has to resign from the cadet corps.

All military cadets adhere to the honor code, which states that “a cadet does not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do.” A violation of the honor code is a serious offense that can cost one’s dreams of becoming a military officer.

Tabuada claimed he spoke to Lagura after Cudia’s conviction and the cadet said his original vote was “not guilty” but that in the chamber (where the committee members discuss the case like a jury), he was pressured to change his vote to “guilty.”

Lagura, like Cudia, is one of the cadets of the “Siklab Diwa” Class 2014 who will be joining the Navy.

Cudia faced the honor committee, composed of cadets like him, after he allegedly lied about why he was two minutes late for class.

His case gained public attention after his older sister and supporters posted an appeal on Facebook for a reversal of the conviction.

Cudia’s sister, Anavee, claimed that the cadet was supposed to graduate class salutatorian and receive the Navy saber as the top cadet to join the Navy.

Briguez, however, clarified that Cudia was running for third honors and not class salutatorian.—With Kristine Angeli Sabillo, INQUIRER.net

Originally posted at 02:04 pm | Thursday, March 13, 2014

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